The present invention is directed to a stretcher particularly useful for persons with spinal injuries.
It is very important with persons with spinal injuries to maintain such persons immobile to minimize damage to the spine and to avoid further trauma. A patient with spinal damage can be subjected to a variety of diagnostic tests including plain X-rays, computer aided tomography (referred to as CT below), standard myelograhy, and CT myelography. During myelography, often a patient is not maintained horizontal, but needs to be raised up to 60.degree. relative to the horizontal.
Besides these diagnostic techniques, manipulation of a patient with a spinal fracture can be done. For example, a closed reduction of a spinal fracture can be effected where the patient is held on a board with traction applied while the patient is in an X-ray machine so that the effect of the manipulation on the fracture can be monitored.
When making the radiographic evaluation of a patient with a spinal fracture, it is often necessary to move the patient from stretchers to dollies to other flat surfaces, depending upon the diagnostic test the patient is undergoing. This is undesirable because in some circumstances this movement can cause additional trauma to the spine and spinal cord. Application of cervical traction is often required to make these diagnostic tests properly, and also to reduce a fracture, and this requires additional cubmersome equipment which is difficult to acquire and set up at the place it is needed.
Thus, there is a need for a stretcher that can hold a patient with a spinal injury, which is sufficiently radiolucent to allow high quality X-ray and CT studies even though the patient remains on the stretcher when they are made, and which has an attached traction device.